Conventional artillery systems with guided parafoils include, for example, the miniature parafoil (“Mosquito”) system developed by Stara Technologies, and the miniature guided parafoil (“Snowflake”) system developed by the Naval Postgraduate School and the University of Alabama at Huntsville. In addition, the precision airdrop (“JPADS”) system, described in Robert Wright, et al., “Precision Airdrop System, 18th AIAA Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Technology Conference and Seminar, AIAA 2005-1644, pages 1-14, 2005,” can be used for aerial replenishment of large payloads, beyond the scope of what would fit into a mortar or artillery projectile.
These conventional systems are GPS guided. Of these systems, only the Mosquito and Snowflake systems fit into a mortar or an artillery projectile. However, the Snowflake and JPADS systems are not designed for high-G launch survivability. The Mosquito system is designed to be launched from a countermeasure-type environment which is significantly softer than the setback experienced during a high charge mortar launch.
Furthermore, another conventional means of rapid resupply is a helicopter airdrop. During this resupply, the drop site has to be set up and guarded during the delivery. This places the soldiers and assets in a vulnerable situation that is neither quick nor stealthy. The use of the helicopter could also be relatively expensive.
In terms of accuracy of the actual location of delivery, the variance increases with the increasing range of the projectiles. Factors that contribute to the increased variance are winds aloft (meteorological data), propellant temperature variations, and marginal errors in gun elevations. Winds aloft present one form of disturbance in that crosswinds can send a projectile left or right relative to the intended target, and head and tail winds can propel the projectile too far or too short of the intended target.
There is therefore a still unsatisfied need for a mortar projectile having a guided deceleration system, such as a parafoil, for accurately delivering a payload to a remotely located target location, without interference of terrain or enemy action.